Progressive Slots

When people talk about progressive jackpots, the sums of money involved sound too good to be true – sadly, a number of potential players are so baffled by the figures that they become sceptical. However, once you know how and why you can win jackpots worth millions of pounds, you realise there’s nothing to worry about.

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Every time you play a progressive slot (aka one where the jackpot keeps rising until it is won) a small percentage of your bet is added to the pile. Since there are usually multiple casinos feeding the jackpot simultaneously, it can grow quickly. That’s how a £1,000,000 jackpot can be become two million, three million or even more than ten million pounds by the time it’s won.

Now, who wouldn’t want a slice of that pie?

Top Casinos for Playing Progressive Slots

For any readers who already understand progressives and are looking for a bit of advice on finding the best ones, then we’ve got you covered. Check out the table below for our recommended casinos for progressive slots.

With the likes of Mr Green (Mega Moolah, Mega Fortune and Hall of Gods), Leo Vegas (Mega Moolah, Mega Fortune) and Casinoland (Mega Moolah, The Dark Knight and Hall of Gods), you have a choice of first-rate casinos running the most lucrative progressive slots in the world. Our recommended casinos not only offer the chance to win life-changing jackpots, but also promise quick banking, generous bonuses and responsive customer support.

The Brains behind the Jackpots

As they say, behind every great progressive slot is an even greater software developer. Right?

Microgaming

A big name in the industry since its very inception in the 1990s, Microgaming4 is one of the premier online casino game developers in the world. It has created over 40 separate progressive slots, including the world-famous Mega Moolah whose jackpot has peaked as high as £13.2 million.

Playtech

Playtech5 are one of the most exciting software developers in the game today, and they haven’t shied away from producing big-hitting, huge-payout progressive slots over the years. With their trademark penchant for leveraging pop culture, possibly their most lucrative progressive slot is Gladiator, which features primary characters and videos from the blockbuster movie starring Russell Crowe.

Some Names to Look Out For

If you want to get a nice comparison of the various progressive slots out there, then in addition to Mega Moolah, Mega Fortune, The Dark Knight and Hall of Gods, you should check out:

Major Millions

King Cashalot

Jackpot Giant

Iron Man

Irish Riches

Every one of these progressives is capable of cashing out at millions of pounds. In fact, at the time of writing, only Gladiator and King Cashalot are worth slightly less than £1,000,000 – the rest go up as high as £8.5m and counting! Progressive slots may be the hardest to win, but the payouts are truly life changing and that’s usually incentive enough.

Tips for Playing Progressives

No matter what your Uncle’s crooked old mates might tell you, there’s no way to “fix” a slot machine. The reels are never “hot” nor “cold”, and every time you spin you have exactly the same chance of winning as you did the spin before – this is guaranteed by using Random Number Generators (RNGs) to control the reels and extensive regulation on the industry.

For all that, there are simple things you can do to marginally increase the odds and at least make sure you have fun playing.

Choose a Ripe Jackpot

While it is technically impossible to say when a jackpot will be won (in theory it could be won with literally two consecutive spins) you can look at the statistics and hedge your bets. If a progressive had an average payout of £3.5 million and it was current sitting below £2m, you might to decide to wait. Anywhere above £3m and you’ve probably got a better chance of winning; the higher it grows above the average, the sooner it is likely to cash out.

It’s hardly guaranteed to make you win, but it could marginally better the odds!

Play Games You Enjoy

When you’re playing a progressive, you’re basically saying “I’m in this for the long haul” – they aren’t won overnight. Since you are likely to play quite regularly for days, perhaps weeks on end, you want to choose a game you truly enjoy playing; otherwise, things can get monotonous and you might start making wrong judgements during play.

Perhaps more importantly, online slots should never be seen as a money-making scheme – first and foremost you should play for fun, and that’s why game selection is pivotal.

Avoid Autoplay

Most video slots6 allow you to use a feature called “auto play”, where the reels essentially spin themselves 10, 20 or even hundreds of times in a row. Since slots is about having fun and tracking your progress while you play, this is generally not the best way to play. For a start, you might win a huge bonus and continue frittering away cash, without even knowing!

Mobile Progressives

The whole world of online gaming is experiencing a shift to mobile casino, with more and more casinos creating iOS and Android apps so that players can enjoy their favourite games on the move – the same is true for progressives.

How to Play

The actual gameplay of a progressive is largely similar to any other video slot, as explained in our slots guide9.

There are five vertically spinning reels, each with a number of symbols – if you spin and like symbols appear together, you win some cash. However, unlike old machines, the symbols can line up in all sorts of different orders, not just across the front middle of the reels. You wager coins, and you can choose how much each coin is worth, usually somewhere between 1p and £1. These different configurations are known as “paylines” – the more paylines you activate, the better your chances of winning but the more coins you have to play. In other words, it’s higher risk.

Regardless of the number of paylines or the variable coin value, most progressives require to play the maximum bet every time.

This means using the highest coin value and the maximum number of paylines – this is much higher risk and can lead to heavy losses, but of course a big win would trounce the small outlay. If you manage to trigger the jackpot without betting the maximum, then you’ll usually only be rewarded with a fraction of the jackpot amount.

How Do They Work?

Every time you place a bet – and whether it wins or loses – a percentage of that amount goes towards the jackpot. If everyone is playing the maximum, the jackpot climbs more quickly. Eventually, the jackpot will be randomly triggered and that lucky player is going to walk away with millions in the bank.

Conclusion

Progressive slots are unlike any other game in the world. There’s no particular skill involved, and every single player, across multiple countries, has an equal chance of winning. Not only that, but someone is guaranteed to win, eventually.

The jackpots available in progressive slots may be superhuman, but any ordinary player can win one. Will you be next?